Day Six - What does the future hold?

Hey again. So today I'm going to do more of a reflection:

Ever since school when I started about what I wanted to do for a career, I have always told myself (and which all teachers drummed into me) that I'd do something I'd enjoy. I take the idea quite seriously. For example, I am excellent at accounting and have passed all school and university courses with over 90%, but I could not imagine waking up every day to be working through numbers at a desk.

Since starting university, and having done international business and realising how different and exciting the cultures of the world are, I have always loved the idea of being able to travel as part of my career (or at least part of it). Originally I was unsure what job I wanted to do exactly, until I realised that I could combine it with my love of marketing and cars. And so I came up with the idea of working in the in-house marketing department of a major car maker (preferably a premium one such as Audi), where I would have to conduct market research and build relations with different countries to decide what car models and their specifications should be sent where. A simple example is that the Japanese don't need big v8 four-wheel-drives, while the same thing would be perfect in America. I don't even know if such a job exists, but I'm sure it does.

So today I went to a seminar called 'Global Career Skills', and the bloke spoke about all the things to do with increasing your international IQ, getting international experience, searching for an international job, etc. It made me think about what I want to do to reach my goal. There are so many things I want to do before settling down into a day-to-day job: I want to backpack around the world, I want to master French and learn even more languages (Spanish and an Asian language would be great), and I want to do internships that lead me on the path to my career. This seminar got me thinking about all the possible options I could take, and consequently left me in confusion of just not knowing what I should do, and when.

I think I will return for another year at QUT and do my honours degree before any of this. It gives me time to save up more money, learn more about what I am interested in, have a decent qualification on my resume, and get a little bit older before venturing out too far into the world (yes, I know I'm already in Canada). But then what?

- Do I try and get an internship in France, and stay with a family there or something where I can master the language?
- Do I just study French outside of uni during honours, then backpack around the world afterwards for a year or two and do basic labour while half-learning a variety of local cultures/languages along the way?
- Or do I just aim to find a job straight away that will lead to all the travel I've wanted to do?

And then I wonder: What about refereeing? I've worked so hard at it, progressed really far... When I think about all this other stuff, refereeing slips out of my mind. But it could also be my ticket to travel, if I work hard enough and get to go to different countries to officiate. Then I could move to a marketing career after that. So many options... I think I'm just going to have to take it as it comes.

I'd like to know what you think about all of this :)

Oh, and here are 5 more cultural differences I've noticed (I thought of the first two whilst in the shower haha):

1) Canadian toilets are huge water wasters. They use like 15L per flush (they aren't dual-flush), and they reset so that half the bowl is filled after each flush. Without being too crude, it makes it difficult to avoid a 'splash'...
2) Canadian showers have awesome pressure compared to Australia! Obviously no water restrictions here... and bizarrely, most of them have what appears to be an overflow outlet in the form of a tap, which has water coming out of it even when the shower is running. Haven't figured it out yet. And no, its not to make the shower a bath.
3) Canadian (or at least Quebec) cars do not require numberplates on the front. It took a while to get used to seeing nothing there, and not thinking that every car was unregistered or stolen. It makes me wonder how they do speed cameras from head-on...
4) Donuts are so much cheaper here! Well, at least at Tim Hortons, Canada's favourite coffee shop and the equivalent of Starbucks. One donut here is just $1 while an assorted dozen sets me back $6.50, whereas at Krispy Kreme in Australia they are like $2-2.50 each and $20 for an assorted dozen! As there is a "Timmies" on campus, it makes for a great treat during the night class breaks.
5) There are a lot more homeless people in major Canadian cities compared to those in Australia. Maybe they are just more obvious and are not hidden like in Brisbane, but in Montreal and particularly Toronto there can be homeless people on every corner, in subways, or even holding doors open for the public in the hope of some spare change..

Alright, time for bed. Please don't forget to leave a comment if you read this - it doesn't take much time! And it makes a world of difference for me :)